24 Nov 2009

Carles Congost: 'Adult Contemporary' at Galeria Joan Prats

Next November 26, we will present 'Adult Contemporary', Carles Congost's first solo exhibition in Barcelona since 2005.

The new works of multifaceted artist Carles Congost bring forth a variety of ways to approach the production of images related to the miscellaneous imaginarium of pop culture. In his recent photographic works he combines the sketch with the photo romantic novel in stories that allow aesthetic and character association in dissonant social circumstances. His visual references go from the comic strip genre, portraying camp super heroes, to celebrities from the European show business, from poprock, from cult movies or gore, punk and underground cultures. Such iconic registers are brought together via theatrical stagings and pathetic performances, excessive at times and of a baroque overelaboration prone to science fiction. His projects draw on tragicomic characters, decadent at times, or incarnations of simply stereotyped roles at others, verging on the melancholic and the comical at the same time. Thus, Carles Congost's artistic discourse puts forward a questioning of the social roles, the use of the media, the artistic institution, without losing sight of a complex sense of the contemporary visual experience.

Carles Congost (Olot, Girona, 1970) lives and works in Barcelona. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, such as 'Say I'm your number one' in MUSAC Leon (2007), 'Memorias of Arkaran' in CAC Malaga (2006), 'Un mystique determinado' in CGAC in Santiago de Compostela (2005 ), 'That's my impression!' in CAAC Seville (2002), 'Popcorn Love' in MNCARS in Madrid (2001) or 'Country Girls' at Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona (2000). He also participated in numerous group exhibitions in Mucsarnok Kunsthalle of Budapest, Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, Center Pompidou in Paris, MIGROS in Zurich, MAMBA of Buenos Aires, Palais Tokyo in Paris, the PS1 Contemporary Art Center in New York and the Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin. Currently he is showing in the exhibition 'Yo Uso Perfume Para Ocupar Más Espacio' at Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City.